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Objective To assess the extent to which patients self-refer to cancer specialists and whether self-referral is associated with better experiences and quality of care. Data Sources Data from surveys and medical record abstraction collected through the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium. Study Design Observational study of patients with lung and colorectal cancer diagnosed from 2003 through 2005 in five geographically defined regions and five integrated health care delivery systems. Methods Multivariable logistic regression models used to assess factors associated with self-referral and propensity score-weighted doubly robust models to test the association between self-referral and experiences/quality of care. Principal Findings Among 5,882 patients, 9.7 percent of lung cancer patients and 14.9 percent of colorectal cancer patients self-referred to at least one cancer specialist. Black patients were less likely to self-refer than white patients (odds ratio: 0.48, 95 percent confidence interval: 0.35, 0.64); patients with high incomes (vs. low) and with a college degree (vs. non-high school graduates) were significantly more likely to self-refer. Self-referral was associated with lower ratings of overall physician communication for patients with lung cancer but, conversely, higher odds of curative surgery among patients with stage I/II lung cancer. Conclusions A small but significant proportion of patients self-referred to their cancer specialists; rates varied by patient race and socioeconomic status. To the extent that self-referral is associated with quality, it may reinforce disparities in care.

Objective Assess the relative importance of proximity and other hospital characteristics in the choice of hospital for breast cancer surgery by race/ethnicity. Data SEER-Medicare data. Study design Observational study of women aged >65 years receiving surgery for stage I/II/III breast cancer diagnosed in 1992-2007 in Detroit (N = 10,746 white/black), Atlanta (N = 4,018 white/black), Los Angeles (N = 9,433 white/black/Asian/Hispanic), and San Francisco (N = 4,856 white/black/Asian). We calculated the distance from each patient's census tract of residence to each area hospital. We estimated discrete choice models for the probability of receiving surgery at each hospital based on distance and assessed whether deviations from these predictions entailed interactions of hospital characteristics with the patient's race/ethnicity. We identified high-quality hospitals by rates of adjuvant radiation therapy and by survey measures of patient experiences, and we assessed how observed surgery rates at high-quality hospitals deviated from those predicted based on distance alone. Principal findings Proximity was significantly associated with hospital choice in all areas. Minority more often than white breast cancer patients had surgery at hospitals with more minority patients, those treating more Medicaid patients, and in some areas, lower quality hospitals. Conclusions Residential location alone does not explain concentration of racial/ethnic-minority breast cancer surgery patients in certain hospitals that are sometimes of lower quality.